Friday, February 28, 2014

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Sally and her husband Larry. We ate at the Stage Stop Restaurant in Silver Springs.

When Sally and I get together we are so busy talking and catching up I often forget to take pictures so I borrowed this picture of the inside of this restaurant.

We sat at the table you can see in the back…imagine Sally and I at the chairs against the wall and Larry facing us when he wasn’t visiting with the other people he knew.

I really enjoyed it. The food was great and plentiful. I had the fried shrimp basket and when I saw the size of the portion I thought I’d probably be able to eat less than half. It was so good I ate over 3/4 of it. Good shrimp sauce and fries too.

I think Larry knew everyone in the whole place! But with his outgoing personality I’ll bet everyone he meets is his friend!

Friday, February 14, 2014

I am very pleased with the results of my ice dyeing adventure. This is one of the two pieces I am sharing with you today.

Here is another one of the pieces I did. I am in love with this one too.

The only problem I ran into was that I used the tray from the golf cart under the fabrics.

When I took out the fabrics the tray was almost full of dye liquid. I scooped out liquid, but it was a slow process because the tray was so shallow.

Then I got the bright idea to put fabric in the liquid. I knew that I wouldn’t get wonderful colors, but with dyeing just about anything can be saved with overdyeing, shibori, or painting on the fabric.

The liquid looked very blue green and that is the color I was expecting.

Instead I got medium mottled reddish mahogany colors. That is because the red dyes strike first.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

I have been waiting for the weather to warm up enough to work on dyeing fabrics in the garage.
Today it was warm enough to start ice dyeing. I had about 8 gallon bags of ice in the freezer, many over a year old.
This is a perfect way to use that ice.
In this photo I am soaking my fabrics in soda ash solution.
I knew I was going to put the fabrics on a screen from a door that a friend game me. The problem was what to put under the screen.
I looked around the garage and spotted the tray that covers the batteries in the golf cart. This was a perfect solution for me.
In this photo you see the bottom layer of fabrics that will catch the water and dye as the ice melts.
I placed the screen on top of the tray.
I added the top layer of fabrics. some were just bunched up and others were folded and layered.
I added a thick layer of ice on top of the fabric.
Wearing a respirator I added powdered dyes on top of the fabrics and ice. I started with the lightest colors and gradually worked up to some darker ones.
I just guessed on how much dye to add. I am thinking I probably added more than necessary.
Next I covered the entire surface with plastic so the loose dyes didn’t blow around.
I’m sure you’re anxious to see the results. So am I!
But we are going to have to wait 24-48 hours or more until most of the ice has melted.
Then it will be time for the rinse out, wash out and pressing of the fabric.
As my friend Debbie said “The hardest thing about snow/ice dyeing is the waiting to see the results.”
While I am ice dyeing my friends Kay and Debby are snow dyeing. They have more snow that usual and are taking advantage of it.
The serendipitous results are always so exciting.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

This picture shows our house when it was built about 10 years ago. Yesterday I mentioned how fast things grow in Florida
.
This is what it looks like today. The most obvious difference is the size of the palm trees.
If you look closer you can also see the azaleas and other shrubs which were hardly noticeable on the original photo have grown to maturity.
Nothing new has been added in this time period.
They have been trimmed and shaped many times and are in wonderful condition.
Florida has sunshine, warmth, humidity and rain which all contribute to ideal growing conditions.

Monday, February 3, 2014

I was so surprised when I walked out the front door (facing east) this morning and this one lone azalea was in bloom. The thing that surprised me most was we have had so much cold weather I thought they would bloom later than usual.
They usually start to bloom in March or even April. Although they are loaded with buds but I don’t expect them to be in full bloom for a while yet.
This plant started as a houseplant. I moved it outside about 5 years ago. I really expected to lose it in the first few year. When it got cold it lost a lot of leaves and it almost looked dead.
It’s now about 5 feet tall and almost hides the two smaller shrubs. The leaves themselves are close to 3 feet in length.
I am thinking it is time to trim back a few of the leaves.
I’m always amazed at how fast things grow in Florida.